Jayakrishnan Vu
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Dengue has spread across all districts of the state with two people dying more than 270 people testing positive for the fatal disease this year, said health experts.
However, the government is yet to take preventive measures against the epidemic, which has been considered the most dangerous human viral disease by the World Health Organization (WHO), said the experts.
The blood samples taken from state were infected with both the north Indian and south Indian strains
of dengue, showing that the virus had entered Orissa from the neighbouring states of West Bengal and Jharkhand, said the former director of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), SK Kar.
Other experts echoed Kar, saying that the sudden outbreak of the disease in Orissa, came in the wake of
large-scale migration from neighbouring states.
Agriculture workers suffer the lion’s share of fatal mosquito bites that cause the disease, said Kar.
Dengue was first reported in the state in 2010 from the tribal hamlets of Malkangiri and Gajapati districts, with a total of two deaths and 160 positive cases, said Kar.
The disease spread to the entire state with 33 deaths and 1, 816 positive cases being registered in 2011, according to figures available with the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme under the Union health ministry. In 2012, there were six deaths and 2,029 positive cases. The toll stood at five and six for 2013 and 2014, respectively.
The epidemic is reported from both rural and urban areas alike, said SS Pati, a scientist with RMRC.
Experts said the government should immediately undertake a coordinated sanitation drive with local communities and municipalities to find a permanent solution to this deadly disease.